Data from: Rapid adaptive evolution of colour vision in the threespine stickleback radiation

Vision is a sensory modality of fundamental importance for many animals, aiding in foraging, detection of predators, and mate choice. Adaptation to local ambient light conditions is thought to be commonplace, and a match between spectral sensitivity and light spectrum is predicted. We use opsin gene expression to test for local adaptation and matching of spectral sensitivity in multiple independent lake populations of threespine stickleback populations derived since the last ice age from an ancestral marine form. We show that sensitivity across the visual spectrum is shifted repeatedly towards longer wavelengths in freshwater compared with the ancestral marine form. Laboratory rearing suggests this shift is largely genetically based. Using a new metric, we found that the magnitude of shift in spectral sensitivity in each population corresponds strongly to the transition in the availability of different wavelengths of light between the marine and lake environment. We also found evidence of local adaptation by sympatric benthic and limnetic ecotypes to different light environments within lakes. Our findings indicate rapid parallel evolution of the visual system to altered light conditions. The changes have not, however, yielded a close matching of spectrum-wide sensitivity to wavelength availability, for reasons we discuss.视觉是许多动物至关重要的感官模态（sensory modality），可助力其觅食、侦测天敌并完成择偶行为。学界普遍认为，对当地环境光照条件的适应现象十分普遍，且推测光谱敏感度与光照光谱之间应存在匹配关系。本研究通过视蛋白基因（opsin gene）的表达水平，对末次冰期以来由祖先海洋种群演化而来的多个独立湖泊种群的三棘刺鱼（threespine stickleback）开展局部适应与光谱敏感度匹配性检验。研究结果显示，相较于祖先海洋种群，淡水种群的全视觉光谱敏感度多次向长波长方向偏移；实验室饲养实验表明，这类偏移在很大程度上由遗传因素决定。我们采用一种新的指标（metric），发现各群体的光谱敏感度偏移幅度与海洋-湖泊环境间不同波长光照可获得性的变化高度相关。此外，我们还发现湖泊内同域分布的底栖（benthic）与浮游（limnetic）生态型，也针对各自所处的不同光照环境发生了局部适应。本研究结果表明，视觉系统会针对光照条件的改变发生快速的平行演化。然而，这类变化并未让全光谱敏感度与光照波长的可获得性实现紧密匹配，具体原因将在本文中进行讨论。